Breakdown of Se sabe que los lobos no muerden aquí.
no
no / not
aquí
here
que
that (relative pronoun, conjunction)
saber
to know (facts, information)
se
one, people (impersonal)
el lobo
the wolf
morder
to bite
Questions & Answers about Se sabe que los lobos no muerden aquí.
Why do we say se sabe instead of just sabe to mean 'it is known'?
Sabe by itself means 'he knows', 'she knows', or 'you know' formally. Adding se makes it an impersonal statement, meaning 'people in general know' or 'it is known'. This is the impersonal se construction you are learning in this lesson.
Does se sabe ever change to plural (se saben) since the sentence talks about multiple wolves?
No, because the wolves are not the subject of the first verb. The phrase se sabe que (it is known that) is impersonal and stays in the third-person singular form, regardless of what comes after the word que.
Why do we use los before lobos if the English translation just says 'wolves'?
In Spanish, when you talk about a general category of things or animals (like wolves in general), you must include the definite article like los or las. English drops 'the' for general categories, but Spanish requires it.
Why is it spelled muerden with a 'ue'?
The verb for 'to bite' is morder. It is an o-to-ue stem-changing verb, meaning the 'o' changes to 'ue' in the present tense for most subjects, including the 'they' form used here for the wolves.
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